As we spoke on the terrace of Unifrance during the Cannes Film Festival, a little tiny bird with a loud, rhythmical chirp decided it needed to chime in. Perhaps, I thought as I listened to the recording later, it was the spirit, the animal incarnation of a Sheikha, the beautiful, strong, freedom-loving tradition of women singers that the French-Moroccan filmmaker pays homage to in his latest masterpiece.
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And the Kering 2024 'Women In Motion' Emerging Talent Award goes to Malaysian director Amanda Nell Eu
The first time I ever met Eu, I knew she would be a filmmaker to watch. This latest award just reinforces her power.
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Greta Gerwig by © Ben Rayner, courtesy of the Festival de Cannes
Cannes announces Greta Gerwig as Jury President for their 77th edition
With ‘Barbie’, the American filmmaker has singlehandedly proven that an audience favorite can also be a thoughtful art film, one which can conquer both blockbuster status as well as a critical acclaim and finally, awards nominations.
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Splendido Cinema: Nanni Moretti in the Spotlight
Back in 2012, I met Nanni Moretti in his office, and the meeting changed my life. Forever. Moretti has that power, to change the course of things with his cinema. I’d watched ‘We Have a Pope’ in Abu Dhabi and not long after, I decided I needed to meet him face to face. In person, he was what he is in the movies. Nothing more, nothing less. Cranky, at times mean, and then, once I’d slammed my fist onto his desk because he wasn’t paying attention to my questions, he became a talkative, kind and attentive interview.
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Jean-Luc Godard at the FIAF Congress of 1979 in Lausanne, with Freddy Buache, director of Cinémathèque suisse from 1951 to 1996 Photo ©Cinémathèque Suisse Collection. All rights reserved
Revolutionary cinema: Jean-Luc Godard receives the 2019 FIAF award in Lausanne
Jean-Luc Godard. Was there ever a more interesting, enigmatic figure in French cinema? I don’t think so.
From his films, cryptic as best sometimes, to the revolution he organized along with François Truffaut which shut down the Festival de Cannes in 1968, from his reclusive almost invisible life in later years, to his latest masterpiece ‘The Image Book’, Godard was, is and always will be the Greta Garbo of French filmmakers.
So to find him in Lausanne, making a rare live appearance in present day and form, accepting the FIAF 2019 award from Frédéric Maire — President of FIAF, director of the Cinémathèque Suisse and former head of Locarno Film Festival — at the Casino de Montbenon, home of the Cinematheque Suisse, is legendary.
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Alice Rohrwacher, photo by © Fabio Lovino
Alice Rohrwacher on why she's not making documentaries, the talisman in names & casting her Lazzaro
As I sit with a group of journalists surrounding Alice Rohrwacher, on an open terrace in Cannes, there is a dog howling and barking, far in the background. I giggle to myself as I seem to be the only person noticing it and because in her film ‘Lazzaro Felice’ (‘Happy as Lazzaro’) she features a wolf who is quite central to the story. This sound in the distance brings a whole otherworldly, almost magical element to our chat and if she does anything with her films, Rohrwacher proves a purveyor of magic through the lens.
This week, Rohrwacher descends on Doha to become a Master during their annual Qumra event. The Doha Film Institute is also about magic, and they make theirs happen behind the scenes by bringing together the crème de la crème of international filmmakers, producers, film curators, programmers, sales agent and festival directors to create a cinematic tsunami that is bound to be felt around the world. It is five days and nights of jam packed cinematic networking as well as constant learning, through their Masterclasses, lectures and mentorship, as well as over fine local dishes at working breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
From where I stand, the partnership seemed inevitable between Rohrwacher and the DFI.
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Photo of Bruno Dumont by Locarno Festival/Samuel Golay
Bruno Dumont in Locarno: "I believe in the power of cinema"
Back in 1999, at the Festival de Cannes, Bruno Dumont presented 'Humanity' ('L'humanité') a film that caused an uproar among critics, who initially mocked and then went on to three of the top awards from the Competition jury headed by David Cronenberg.
So, in case you were wondering, Dumont seems to always manage the last laugh.
Fast forward almost two decades and Dumont is getting quite a lot of laughs indeed, this time from audiences at the Locarno Festival watching the world premiere of the latest installment of the TV series the French filmmaker started for ARTE in 2014. The original installment was 'Li'l Quinquin', now his characters are all four years older and the second season is titled 'CoinCoin and the Extra-Humans'.
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Mohamed Hefzy
Mohamed Hefzy is the new Cairo Film Festival president, and here's why that's great news!
Just over a month before the Festival de Cannes kicked off on the Croisette, an announcement rocked the world of Arab cinema: Egyptian producer extraordinaire Mohamed Hefzy would be the new head of the Cairo International Film Festival. There are many reasons why Hefzy is the perfect man for the job, since CIFF has had its share of troubles following the revolutions of the Arab Spring. Among them, that he's long been a great cinematic bridge between the Arab world and the West. Also to keep in mind, the movie business in Egypt has gone through changes that would have shut the industry down in most other countries, and yet out of those ashes it is thanks to a visionary producer like Hefzy that Egyptian films are now seen beyond the Arab world.
I can easily quote the 'Yomeddine' example -- a simple, straight from the heart indie-like film that competed for the Palme d'Or this year in Cannes. Yes, in Competition, in Cannes. Not bad for a debut feature film!
So knowing that Hefzy will be at the helm of the oldest and most prestigious festival in Egypt is great news to this lover of Arab cinema.
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Matteo Garrone, photo by Stefano Baroni
Matteo Garrone on 'Dogman' and the man who finally made the film happen, his actor Marcello Fonte
The magic of Matteo Garrone's latest 'Dogman' lies in the Italian filmmaker's fantastical vision -- a creativity simply like no other in narrative cinema. There is something about how this Cannes Competition title was shot, almost surrealistic and old timey, and how the story has been told without compromise that left me breathless.
'Dogman' is a true collaboration between two exceptional individuals, Garrone as its director of course and his leading man Marcello Fonte, whom the filmmaker allows to steal the show without any ego or possessiveness to the story he wrote (along with Massimo Gaudioso and Ugo Chiti). In fact, Fonte manages to be even more mesmerizing than the dogs in 'Dogman' and those four legged creatures are plentiful and quite spellbinding themselves. Some would say that by the final image of 'Dogman' Fonte has become one of them, an ownerless dog who just lost his master.
Photo courtesy of Annemarie Jacir
Why Cannes' Un Certain Regard Jury member Annemarie Jacir is a personal favorite
I fell in love with her film 'Salt of This Sea' first, captured by its heroine Soraya, who was unapologetically woman and so perfectly angry. Then I got to interview her during the now defunct Abu Dhabi Film Festival and found her to be as wonderfully real as her film characters are. Once again, one of her films 'When I Saw You' made me dream from my cinema seat and I found its omissions from that year's Oscar race a large oversight.
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Nadine Labaki photographed by Ammar Abd Rabbo
Nadine Labaki on Directing, Freedom and Cinema’s True Power
A good forty-four years after Lebanese director Heiny Srour had her film featured in the Official Competition at the Festival de Cannes, Nadine Labaki once again breaks all records, foregoes all the unspoken rules and becomes the second woman filmmaker from the Arab world ever to be chosen to be part of the prestigious lineup. And in fact, we can count the women directors who have been on that list on the tips of our fingers...
It's no wonder that the cool, glamorous and utterly fantastic Labaki and her crew (including her composer husband Khaled Mouzanar, who lends the music to all her cinematic masterpieces) celebrated the news of her latest 'Capernaum' being nominated for a Palme d'Or with a video that has gone viral on her social media.
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Claes Bang in a still from 'The Square' directed by Ruben Östlund
Claes Bang on doing sex scenes, working on the Oscar-nominated 'The Square' and the one word that defines him
I meet Danish actor Claes Bang at the Dubai International Film Festival, at the height of the sexual harassment tidal wave of scandals that has engulfed the entertainment industry since early October 2017. Major Hollywood players keep falling around us, left and right and in fact, not even a week after my interview with Bang, another filmmaker whose film is featured at the festival, Morgan Spurlock, comes out with his own confession of wrongdoings, on Twitter.
Yet Bang seems unaffected by the hoopla, his soave behavior unchanged as he gazes deep into my eyes and with an almost unrelenting stare. He also sits quite close to me and doesn't care about crossing into my personal space often, during our interview. I don't mind one bit, it's actually refreshing to talk without reservations about sex with a spellbinding man I'll probably never meet again. I won't even have to go out with him, or have to sit through a glass of wine together, while I struggle to keep quiet and "let the man talk" -- as my BFF has often admonished me -- while sitting on my hands to avoid moving them around too much.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF NETFLIX
Jake Gyllenhaal as Dr. Johnny Wilcox in Bong Joon-ho’s ‘Okja’
Jake Gyllenhaal on Today’s America, Personal Comfort and His Parents’ Divorce
As he sat down to talk to a select group about his latest film ‘Okja’ in Cannes, Jake Gyllenhaal crossed his arms in front of his chest and gave the room an intense, yet wary look-over. In that moment I thought, “uh oh” imagining the actor would be as I’d seen him before during a masterclass in Dubai — revealing exactly what he was prepared to disclose and nothing more, nothing less. Which would mean that I’d never get my answers about the man beneath the public persona. And that’s always the most interesting, isn’t it, who someone is after the spotlights are turned off and the crowds have gone home.
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